Mistakes
by scathachshadow
Summary: Scathach is desperate to get Aoife back, and will do anything even if it means working with the most notorious wild west outlaw. Eventual Scathach/Billy The Kid
1. Chapter 1

**The Immortal Secrets of Nicholas Flamel, this isn't really set in the time frame of the books, even though Scathach is looking for Aoife. Might have happened before the books, another time Aoife went missing :D**

**Scathach/Billy The Kid. How cute would they be? I think Lots!**

**Always played around with the idea of a S/BTK fanfic, and got the basic idea from Scott's next little instalment about Billy the Kid, which is coming in November.**

**I own nothing, all Michael Scott. Review would be nice**

****

_This was a mistake_, Scathach thought, _huge mistake._

She scanned the room, an old hotel lobby in the depths of Mexico. _Mexico, why Mexico?_ Scathach hated the heat, and the sun, too much for her pale Irish skin. Sunlight was streaming in from the ancient sash windows, and she could see the swirls of dust rising and falling in the golden light.

She could feel, even now, the familiar tingle of the oncoming burn on the back of her slender neck. She reached out to rub it, not a good idea either.

A floorboard creaked upstairs, a soft but rich sound that resonated throughout the hotel.

_At least I know you're here_, she mused. Her hands went straight to her twin swords, strapped to her waist and she began to ascend the staircase.

The stairs was a sweeping, majestic monstrosity but the flea-bitten carpet quelled the sounds of her footfalls, and soon enough she had reached the first floor. She turned to the sound of a second creak.

_Too easy_

Scathach turned to face a heavy mahogany door, room number 1. _Typical. _Quickly she stepped up to the door and knocked twice. She held her breath (_as if it mattered_).

The handle began to turn form the inside, and the person who opened it was not at all who she was expecting.

"Quetzalcoatl?"

The door-opener grinned, and shook his head, a sandy-blonde mop of hair. The room behind him was a large grand lobby, littered with heavy armchairs and tables, adorned with pictures. The wall at the back of the bar was lined with ancient whisky bottles, and oddities.

"Not yet doll" he answered, and motioned for Scathach to enter the room, but Scathach had other ideas and instead to stepping over the threshold, she brandished her tow gleaming twin swords. The twins cut through the air and came to rest lying on either side of the blondes' throat.

"Last guy that called me 'doll' ended up as the tragic victim of a sudden vivisection, do you want that?" she growled

Blondie smiled and raised his unarmed hands in surrender.

"Your good, I'll give ya' that" he laughed but Scathach, annoyed at being laughed at caused the sword to bit into his neck slightly. He jumped and a tiny stream of blood began to seep from the cut on his neck.

"Hey!" he protested, and jumped back out of her swords reach.

"Oops, my sword must have slipped"

" No need for that, was only messin' with 'cha"

Scathach was fuming, not only had she been summoned here, god-only knows why, but she was being antagonised by this little toe-rag. She glared at Blondie one last time and sheathed her weapons. It would be best to appear un-armed in front of Quetzalcoatl, he wasn't her master but he was still an Elder that she didn't want to piss off.

" I was summoned here…" she began,

"By Quetzalcoatl, I know" said Blondie, dismissively. He wasn't even looking at her but was picking dirt out of his fingernails.

She wrinkled her nose in disgust and if Blondie saw, he made no indication that he had. _What was Quetzalcoatl doing with a dirty messager boy, who looked, for all the world, like a deranged cowboy_.

He was slight but build, and young no more that twenty-one Scathach estimated, although she'd never been good at guessing humani age. His blonde hair was tousled, and his jeans were faded and dirty but it was his shoes that really puzzled her. Cowboy boots, but not the commercial cowboy boots that are seen at Halloween or on bad period dramas, actually authentic cowboy boots. He glanced up at her at grinned. Bright blue eyes, with two prominent front teeth.

_Ugly_ thought Scathach, _ugly._

"Don'cha be worryin', he ain't never kept a lady waitin'" Blondie said, and as Scathach was about to retort something sarcastic there was a booming thunderous sound. The hotel shook to its very foundation, so much so that Scathach almost thought it might come down on them. Picture frames fell off the walls with a crashing crescendo, floorboards started to shake and heave. The sound was immense. The shaking increased, and the whisky bottles almost jumped off the shelves. Blondie had to dodge out of the way of the wall of bottles. Scathach was flung to the floor with one of the tremors. She grabbed hold of the leg of a heavy armchair and tried to haul herself up. When the tremors had stopped and the room was covered in dust, and rubble. She coughed trying desperately to clear her throat as a hand hauled her up from the floor. She snatched her arm back quickly. Blondie threw her a look of disgust,

"He's here" he announced.

The dust began to clear, and Scatty could see him sitting beside the bar at the end of the room.

"Scathach" he said quietly, although the "S" was elongated and sounded more like SSSSSSSSSSSSSSssssssscathach.

She cleared her throat again, and nodded to her name. Blondie gave her a dig in the back causing her to stumble forward. Slowly she began to walk towards him.

"The Shadow? Isn't that correct?" he asked. His voice was low, and sibilant. His skin was dark except his face, with was covered in the red scales of a snake, and from his head to his back was covered in a red and black plumage of feathers.

" I presume" he began "you have been told what this is about"

Scathach glanced around, she had hoped for more privacy but Blondie showed no intention of leaving, and nor did Quetzalcoatl of making him do so.

"It's my sister, Maester, I'm looking for her"

Quetzalcoatl looked up and nodded.

"I'm here to make a deal with you Scathach Of Skye, I can get you your sister back" He leant back and removed three dusty glasses from behind the bar, and picked up one of the few bottles of Whisky that hadn't smashed on his arrival. He poured three doses of the amber liquid into the glasses.

"On one condition, I need your….expertise" the elder continued. He glanced at Blondie, and beckoned him forward also. The glass of whisky was thrush in his hand, and downed in one gulp.

"McCarthy here has the skills, the manpower, the weapons but he's lacking the…"

"Expertise" Blondie grumbled.

"Expertise on what?" Scathach asked, fed up of being outside the loop.

Quetzalcoatl looked up from his half empty whisky glass,

"Vampires of course" and he smiled, finishing his whisky.

Scathach felt ill to the core.

"Clan Fola are killing and terrorising my city, there have been more that 30 deaths in the last month alone, and sightings. I can't have this getting even more out of hand"

_Clan fola, brilliant…_

Clan fola, were a strain of the lowliest vampires around, but also the deadliest. Immensely powerful, cunning and bloodthirsty. One of the few creatures that Scathach rathered avoiding.

"A full colony, just outside Mexico City with about 50 fully grown, dunno 'bout fledglings though" Blondie piped up.

Quetzalcoatl turned from Blondie, and fixed his cold, red eyes on Scathach.

"You eliminate them, and I will bring you your sister"

****

She stepped out into the sunlight, letting the light bounce off her vibrant red hair. She knew what she had to do. She swore that she would get Aoife back.

"You coming ginger?" Blondie called out.

Scathach snapped out of her ravine, and turned her head to the sound. She saw the cowboy skirt around the old hotel. She followed along swiftly. He had stopped beside a dust-covered car and fished a bunch of keys out of his pocket.

"Wait, I don't remember the serpent saying anything about you tagging along" Scathach said sharply. "It's my expertise that's needed"

Blondie ripped the dust-cover off to reveal a gorgeous red thunderbird convertible, if Scathach hadn't been so pissed off she might have complimented it.

"Yeah, and my everythin' else dollface, my weapons, my manpower, my observations. I've been watching these guys for months"

"I think I can handle it" Scathach retorted, crossing her arms in protest.

"Not this one, trust me, even I couldn't do it on my own" Blondie snapped open the trunk of his car, and dumped in a Colt single action .44 and a Colt double-action .41 caliber. At a glance, Scatty could see numerous other weapons in there. Scathach snorted, possibly not the most lady-like thing to do but it worked.

"You have no idea who I am, do you?" Scathach teased.

Blondie slammed the trunk down with a jolt, and stood to face her. As slender and short as he was, he was still quiet intimidating and he still towered over Scathach's slender frame.

"I know exactly who you are, Scathach. I've heard the stories, the rumours, and the myths. Trust me, I didn't chose to work with you any more then you did. But I've got a job to do, so are you coming or walking?"

Scatty could see he was getting annoyed now, his breathing was laboured, and his smooth complexion was now blotchy-red.

"Depends" she teased

"Depends on what?"

"Depends on how long a walk it is"

"From here? To mexico city, about three days in the desert. That pale Irish skin will come in handy" He grinned cockily.

Scathach narrowed her eyes, she really had no other choice. _This is for you, Aoife. _Blondie reached out and gallantly opened the passenger door for her. She slid into the red leather interior while he rounded the car and got in on the opposite side. He shoved his key into, and started the ignition, before flooring the accelerator.

"I'm Billy by the way" he glanced across at her. Scathach rolled her eyes,

"Yeah, I gathered".


	2. Chapter 2

Mistakes Chapter 2

The heat was unbearable, as was the dust and the flies and a days driving through the Mexican desert was enough to push any sane person (or vampire) over the edge.

"Can't we just pull over?" she snapped constantly.

Her partner, on the other hand was the complete opposite, he revelled in the heat and sunshine, constantly admiring the landscape or tapping out a drum beat on the dashboard. McCarty, as she had begun calling him, had tried to make conversation, probably to move past their little spat earlier on but Scathach was having none of it. She might have to work with him but she didn't see them becoming best friends any time soon. Everything about the outlaw seemed to annoy her. His stupid lopsided grin, his southern accent, the way he'd rest his hand on the colt at his hip every now and again, as if some vamp was going to jump out in front of the car.

_Amateur _

Scathach sighed deeply, and stared longingly out the window. McCarty glanced across at her.

"You wanna drive?" he asked, "we could take it in turns, save you gettin' bored, and me getting' tired. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love my baby" he said, tapping the car affectionately, "but I'm beat up drivin' all day"

"I don't think so, I don't drive" Scathach replied, and McCarty turned around to face her, mouth hanging open.

"Seriously?" He asked and Scathach nodded.

"I could teach you, ya' know, if ya' wanna learn" he said, almost sheepishly. Scathach was surprised by his generous offer, considering they had only met the day before. She remembered reading something back after Billy the Kid's alleged death, saying that he was one of the most generous and kind-hearted men to his friends and a ruthless, cold-blooded killer to his enemies.

_I may have underestimated this one_

"So can we please pull in to a motel, McCarty?" she asked again.

"Little Mexican sun getting' to ya?" The kid grinned again, and shifted down a gear before pulling off the main dirt highway.

"We're almost there sweetheart, so we can start with this whole vamp business a.s.a.p."

"Don't call me sweetheart" she huffed,

"Don't call me McCarty"

An hour later Billy the kid and Scathach arrived at a run-down, battered motel on the outskirts of Mexico City. The sun was setting and the heat had finally come down to a reasonable temperature.

"Home sweet home" Billy smirked, as he parked the thunderbird outside.

"It's a dump" Scathach looked around disgusted, the paint was peeling from the walls, the main door was hanging on one hinge, and the main receptionist was nowhere to be seen.

Billy strode right up to the counter, and rang the bell. They waited about five minutes until a blonde bimbo popped up behind the counter, not even bothering to apologise for the delay.

"Name?" she asked, and immediately changed her attitude when she looked up at The Kid. She blushed prettily and smiled as she scanned the credit card.

_Oh please_, Scathach thought

"William H. Bonney, will that be one bed or two?" she asked when Scathach finally appeared alongside Billy. Scatty was almost tempted to say one bed, just to see the bitch's face fall.

"Two singles would be great thanks" finished Billy, forever the schmoozer. He grabbed the keys as the receptionist fluttered her eyelashes in one final attempt at seduction.

"You get comfortable and I'll get the paperwork" Billy said, winking at Scatty as he opened the motel room. Scathach rolled her eyes. The room wasn't as bad as they had predicted two clean beds at the far end, working lights, and a desk. She threw herself down on one of the beds immediately. She only looked up when she heard the familiar sound of paper being rearranged. Billy was sorting through his 'so-called research'.

"How to kill vampires" Scathach read out in a deadpan tone, "You honestly don't know how to kill a vampire" she asked.

Billy looked up from his paperwork that was now covering most of the carpet around him. "Course I know how to kill one vampire, but we're talking 'bout poppin' fifty of the bastards"

"So what are we looking at here? Stake through the heart? Or I rather like beheading myself, harder to miss" she pointed out, as she crossed the room.

Billy looked up and shook his head, "I've been thinkin' about this, and there's no way either of us would get out alive, even if we kill ten each there's still thirty more to kill us"

"Maybe silver bullets, there's some lore back here sayin' that it works just as well, as long as you decapitate them after" Billy fished out an old leather bound book and tossed it at Scathach.

"And where we supposed to get fifty plus silver bullets, hmm? stupid idea" she said, dumping the lexicon on its spine.

Billy blushed red, and glared at her.

Two hours into their 'research' and the two were still no nearer to a fully formulated plan. It was becoming increasingly clearer that the two had clashing opinions on almost every aspect of the mission.

"Well what would ya' do?" Billy asked furiously, " 'Cause you seem to be shootin' down my ideas, but got no ideas of ya' own"

"Burn them, we burn them to ashes, and scatter them, works every time" she said smugly, thankful that she had thought of something that the cowboy hadn't.

"Yeah, and the only problem with that is it only takes one vamp to spill his blood on the ashes and resurrect them." Billy answered

_Damn, he really has done his homework_

"What about the head vamp?" Scathach suggested begrudgingly "I could take him out".

As she said that Billy began shaking his head furiously, "Not this guy, he's older than me and ain't never been caught, plus he's dangerous, real dangerous" He pulled out another book, this time smaller that the last, and opened it up to reveal a grotesque picture of a hooded tall figure, long claws, hooked nose and stringy black hair.

"That's him, Elijah Oleander, they call him the…."

"Dispatcher of the Lost" Scathach finished.

_Elijah Oleander, also known as The Dispatcher of the Lost, Wraith of beggars and lepers, a lonely one who leads the lost, not into the light but into damnation. _

Billy nodded again, and ran his fingers through his sandy-blonde hair in frustration, before shoving his beige Stetson on his head. "So what we gonna do?"

"I don't know about you, but I'm finishing this guy"

"Don't be stupid, he'll kill ya' on sight"

"Fine, you sit here and I'll get the job done" Scathach crossed the room, and was about to open the door when Billy slammed himself up against it, preventing her escape. His chest was rising and falling rapidly, his blonde hair was peeking out from under his Stetson. Cute, but determined, and dangerous.

"No, ya can't just walk into the nest" he spat out.

"I can do whatever I like" she retorted, and cringed at how childish she sounded in front of a guy she barely knew.

"You'll give us away"

Scathach laughed cruelly, "I'm better then that"

Billy stared her down; his hands never leaving the door handle though. "Look I know that you want to get your sister back, but…"

"Shut up" she growled, but Billy continued,

"I had a brother once…"

Scathach looked up in disgust and all the rage and hurt of the last few days seem to bubble right to the surface. Her hand shot out and cracked along the side of his face, leaving an angry red print on his once smooth complexion. Her blow had hit hard against his angled cheekbone and lip. She was almost as shocked as Billy, she'd never hit out at anyone, not in rage. She'd never really lost her head with anyone.

"I…I'm…." she began to stutter and back away from the cowboy. Billy was holding a hand to his cheek, and wiping blood from his split lip.

He looked up at her one last time, before turning the handle and disappearing down the hall.

She fell on one of the beds, and held her head in her hands for what felt like hours.

_Well done Scathach, well done._


	3. Chapter 3

This next chapter is in Billy's POV

Hope you enjoy, rate review

_No way am I working with her, no way, no way_

Billy had found his way to the bar and absentmindedly rubbed at his cheek, which was still stinging slightly where Scáthach had hit him. It had been a long time since he's been slapped so hard by a woman, and found himself smiling in spite of himself. He ordered a double whisky to indulge himself. The burning sensation ebbed away as he downed the amber liquid.

_Now what to do? _

He took out his phone and was seriously contemplating calling Black Hawk or Quetzalcoatl, and giving them some excuse to find him a new accomplice.

_She's too bossy? True, but it makes me sound like a pushover…_

_She's psychotic? Well she is like a million years old…_

_She's gorgeous? Black hawk would love that, plus it's completely irrelevant… _

_Think Billy, think._

A few hours later, and several other whisky's Billy had finally formulated a plan of action. He remembered his mom once saying that "the best thing to do was to apologise, especially when you've done nothin' wrong". And this was definitely one of those cases.

He grabbed his tattered hat, and paid his tab. Took a deep breath and walked on down to their shabby little room. Billy stood outside to compose himself, and then knocked, quietly but surely.

No reply, no sounds.

_That's the way it's gonna' be eh? He mused_

He glanced down the hall, checking that the coast was clear before flexing his fingers and bracing them against the door. His fingers glowed deep-red for a split second and there was the smell of cayenne pepper in the air. The door clicked open effortlessly, and Billy switched on the lights.

"Listen Scá- shit" he swore.

The room was empty, he threw open the bathroom door, also empty.

"No, No,NO,NO!" he shouted out loud.

_Maps gone, Scáthach gone…_

Nothing had been moved or touched, except for his maps. Billy ran his hands through his hair in frustration.

_Stupid girl, gonna get herself killed_

The panic and adrenaline had kicked in, and he grabbed his keys (thanking whoever was up there, that she hadn't taken the car) and ran out of the room.

It took him twenty minutes to get into Mexico City, and he pulled up around the corner from the derelict flats that was now the vampire nest. It looked all the world like boarded up apartments but there was something a lot more sinister down there, Billy knew from experience.

He strapped his favourite colt double-action .41 caliber on his holster, along with two other new colt's. He slung his ammunition holster around his shoulder, grabbed a shortened wooden stake and took a steadying breath before walking cautiously up to the dark building.

There were no signs of movement inside the building, Billy wrenched off one of the planks of wood bordering it up, and stepped inside. It was the smell that hit him first.

_Oh yeah definitely vamps… _

The smell of old rotting flesh and meat almost gagged him. Billy pulled out his patterned red handkerchief and wrapped it around his mouth and nose before proceeding down the hall.

The floorboards creaked as he walked, his stake gripped in his right hand, colt in the left. He crept alongside the walls, hoping against hope that nothing would find him. The hall began to widen, and Billy knew from the blue prints, that he was heading for the main lobby of the old apartments.

_Come on Scáthach, where are you? _He thought over and over.

The main doors to the lobby where in sight as he turned a corner, the glass that had once been in place in the door was shattered, with several streaks of blood on the floor.

_Brilliant…_

Billy glanced quickly ahead of him, and reached out for the tattered door handle, when a shiver went down his spine.

_Oh shit,_

An ice cold hand caught the back of his shirt and flung him to the floor. Billy choked and coughed. The vampire stood over him and growled. He was a full grown one by the looks of it, his teeth bared and his nails bloodied. But Billy had come up against worse and won, and he wasn't prepared to be dinner just yet.

Still on the floor, Billy kicked his leg out. The vampire's legs collapsed from under him, and howled with pain as his knee caps cracked of the wooden floor. Billy jumped to his feet and elbowed the vamp in the face for good measure. The nose broke, spurting blood everywhere. Billy's steak was still in his hand and he plunged it into the vamp's chest. The vamp screamed in agony, and slumped to the floor, dead. Unfortunately the little scuffle would have alerted the other vampires of Billy's presence. He could hear hissing, and footfalls for the upper landings.

The pounding of feet was getting louder, and Billy ran down the hall away from the lobby. Putting as much distance between him and the stairs as possible. He ducked into a dark alcove, and tried to make himself as unnoticeable as possible.

_I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die for a ginger._

_A stupid ginger that I don't even like, great._

The pounding was getting louder, the footfalls getting closer. He heard the lobby door crashed open. It would only be a few more seconds till they reached him.

"Where are you?" Scáthach voice echoed down the hall.

Billy poked his head out from his little alcove, and pointed the colt at the source of the voice.

"Scáthach?"

Sure enough it was the red-haired warrior. Her hair was messed and there was blood on her hands and neck but she seemed relatively unharmed. Scáthach grabbed his hand and wrenched him out into the hall. The lobby door crashed open a second time, and this time dozens of vamps began pouring out, hissing and spitting.

"Time to go" said Scáthach, she barred down the hall in search of the exit. A tiny amount of light streamed in from where the doors had been boarded up. Scáthach ran up to them, and began tugging at the planks of wood but to no avail. Billy pushed her aside, and shouldered the planks. The wood heaved and grunted, but didn't move.

"Quickly" Scáthach hissed, glancing down the corridor.

"I'm trying, I can't use my aura" Billy backed away from the door, took a deep breath, and rammed his shoulder into the wood, snapping them in two. He fell out onto the cold cement of the apartment blocks. Scáthach stepped over him and ran for the car. The sun was rising rapidly so the vamps would have to think twice about following them out.

Billy hauled himself to his feet and looked around; he didn't see the vampire's hand before it wrapped itself around his neck. The vamp's nails started digging into Billy's throat, choking him. Scáthach wheeled around and drew her sword. Her sword swung down and cleaved the vampires arm in two, the hand fell back with Billy and the vampire screamed in pain, clutching what was left of his arm.

"Hurry up!" she shouted at Billy, but before Scáthach could kill the first vamp, a second female vampire grabbed hold of her belt and began to drag Scáthach back into the nest. The vampire was fast, so fast that Billy didn't see what had even happened, but Scáthach doubled over, clutching her rapidly bloodied stomach.

"No, no, no, no!" Billy shouted, he scrambled up from the dirt and drew his colt; he shot the half-armed vamp in the head, and the female in the stomach. Both dropped to the ground.

Scáthach gasped as the female vampire died, finally relinquishing her hold on her. Her face was ashy-white, and there was a pool of blood at her stomach.

"Oh no" Billy began,

"Oh no is right" Scáthach grunted through the pain.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Shout out to my only reviewer, ****Cedargirl!**

Scáthach finally woke up on the third day. She opened her eyes, and winced in pain. Her hand flowed down to her stomach, the source of the pain. Her fingers skimmed over a scar that ran along her stomach, just below her bellybutton.

_That's new_, she thought groggily as she struggled to pull herself upright. She had no idea where she was, it wasn't the motel in Mexico City. The room was cleaner and brighter than the motel room, maybe a upper class hotel by the looks of it. At first she thought she was wearing a hospital gown, but now she saw that it was just a large white t-shirt. She blushed thinking who's t-shirt it was. The expensive sheets beneath her rustled as she tried to shimmy out of the bed, her new wound protesting with every movement.

"Don't"

Scatty glanced up to see The Kid leaning against the wall on the far side of the room. He looked tired with blue bruises under his eyes, and angry red welts on his neck. He pushed off the wall and crossed the room towards her.

"You'll pull your stitches" he answered. At with that he bent over her, and gently pulled up the t-shirt to reveal the scar. A ropey thick wound with staggered stitched holding it together. One of the stitches had already come loose, and Billy tutted at the sight of it. His hand touched it, as if to press it back in place but it was more like a caress on her pale skin.

Billy snatched his hand back, realising what he was almost doing. He cleared his throat.

"My handiwork" he stammered.

Scatty was impressed, "I didn't know your were good at first aid"

Billy just cocked his head, and answered, "you don't become a gunfighter without knowing a lil' somethin' 'bout wounds and how to treat 'em"

"I just don't know what happened" Scáthach began. She pulled down her t-shirt to cover the scar, and looked up at The Kid for an explaination.

"Well, you saved me" Billy glanced up and gave her a sly smile, "so I saved you, it was that female. She stabbed you with a dead man's blood, which is…"

"Poisonous to vampires, I know" finished Scáthach.

"Yeah, 'course you know that, it's just that they musta' known you were coming. Why else would vampires have dead man's blood, huh?" Billy threw himself down on the bed beside her and leant back on the headboard of the bed.

"You were out three days, you know that?"

Scáthach leant back alongside Billy so that her shoulder brushed of his tanned arm.

"Three days?"

"Yep, thought you were a goner"

Scáthach snorted, and regretted it as it sent another hot stab of pain through her abdomen. Billy put his hand on her leg as a comforting gesture, and she didn't shake it off. His callous hand began rubbing soothing circles on her thigh.

"Can't get rid of me that easily" she retorted.

"Yeah, I noticed" Billy threw her a lope sided grin. "So I got back to the motel and got our stuff and left, that was before I saw how hurt you were, ya' know?"

Scáthach nodded, encouraging him on.

"Thought they'd get our scent, so I drove out here, and well, you weren't respondin' at all." Billy said. "You wouldn't stop bleedin', 'cos of the dead man's blood."

Billy shifted off the bed, and picked up Scáthach jacket, that had been destroyed when the vampire had stabbed her. He had collected everything they had used that night into a black bag.

"Gotta burn 'em" Billy explained and Scáthach rolled her eyes. Of course she knew that, she'd been hunting vampires since before he'd been born. Billy was still wearing the blood spattered Hollister t-shirt from the night before. He shrugged it off and threw it at the black bag.

"Favorite tee…" he mumbled.

Scáthach blushed at the sight of his bare chest, which was bruised in several places. She hadn't noticed through his shirt how build up he was, with strong arms, and a slightly toned abdominal muscle.

_Damn it, I love nice arms._

Only a few days ago did she think he was a real ugly motherfucker, now she wasn't so sure. The prominent front teeth and the saggy blonde hair were cute, and the arrogant reckless attitude was almost endearing to her now.

_Suppose that's what happens when you own someone your life, get a grip Scatty!_

Billy threw on a new clean shirt and jacket, and grabbed the black bag. He turned back to Scáthach.

"I hate to leave when you just woke up, but the sooner these babies go up in smoke, the sooner I can sleep easy" he said indicating to the bag of clothes.

"No, go I'll be fine" Scáthach assured him, and he nodded.

"I'll be back soon" he promised, and slung the bag over his shoulder. He turned the handle and opened the door.

Scatty bit her lip, and cleared her throat; "Thanks Billy" was all she said.

Once he had left, Scatty got the opportunity to assess the situation. The menu beside the bed, said _Royal Hotel Mexico City._ A five star without a doubt, the room was beautiful. Big double bed, with a lounge area, mini bar and marble bathroom. There were already large amounts of paperwork and books spread out on the couches. She headed towards the bathroom. Scatty almost died when she caught her reflection in the mirror, blood everywhere. In her hair, on her face spattered like freckles.

"Uuuughhhh" she moaned as she tried to pull her fingers through her matted hair.

_This will not do at all_

Scatty gently shimmy out of the t-shirt and turned on the bath. It felt good to just sit in the hot water and relax, not that Scáthach had done much relaxing in a while. This mission was taking its toll on her. Sure it was stupid and reckless to march into a vampire lair, but on the up side she'd killed eleven of them before Billy had turned up, and he had shot the other two. There was a body in the hall also, Billy must've killed it before hand, she suspected. Fourteen down, thirty seven more to go.

She heard Billy come in, sometime after that.

"Scathach?" he called,

"In the bath" she called back, she heard him swear under his breath.

"Well it's time to go" he announced.

Scatty sat upright, reached out for a towel and wrapped it around her pale frame. She burst out of the bathroom.

"What the hell do you mean?" she asked, Billy was shoving his clothes and books into his rucksack and nodded to the window. Scathach looked out, nothing.

"What's going on?" she asked more forcefully, she grabbed Billy's arm and force him to look her in the eye.

"They followed me here, I tried to loose 'em but…" he trailed off. He flung some combats and a tank top at Scatty.

"Quick, we gotta go before they find the car"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Second last chapter.

The red thunderbird was sprawled haphazardly across two parking plots. Billy threw the weapon bag into the trunk, and locked it as Scáthach slid into the passanger side. Moments later, Billy wrenched the door open and jumped in, shoved the key into the ignition and practically stood on the accelerator. He swung a sharp left onto the main road into the heart of Mexico City.

Scáthach grabbed his forearm,

"Why are we going back into the city?" she barked at him,

Billy glanced at her green eyes that glowed, cat-like, in the dark interior of the car.

"We need to go back to the lair, finish the job" he spat back at her, "soon, or they really will kill us".

Scáthach shook her head, "No, not after last time, we need a plan."

Billy laughed cruelly at her. The heavy car rocked as he took another sharp left. "I don't do plans"

"Neither do I, but this is different!" she reasoned, almost imploring. "Billy" she added softly, "Is there anywhere we can go, for a few hours?"

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Half an hour later, the thunderbird crawled up a long dirt track to a tiny little house on the edge of the city.

"My favourite safe house" Billy mumbled, shifting the car into neutral, and turning off the ignition.

Scáthach could pick up on the note of sadness in his voice, but was unable to think of any way of consoling him.

"The plan will work" she finally said, though neither of them made any move to get out of the car. They both looked out at the little house, Scáthach drinking in the sight for the first time and Billy trying to commit the scene to memory. The house was quaint and white, with large sash windows, and a covered porch. The land around the house was green and fertile, unusual for Mexico and reminded Scáthach of her homeland, Ireland. A large lake took up most of the land behind the house, and the water glittered and winked in the afternoon sunlight.

Billy sighed and ran his hand through his blond hair. He turn in his seat to face her, "I hope your right" he added softly. His bright blue eyes connected with her grass green ones. Impulsively Scáthach placed her hand on Billy's, and interlocked their fingers.

"I'm sorry" Scáthach said, swallowing her pride. Billy just shrugged.

"S'not your fault, was gonna re-paint anyways-" but Scatty interrupted.

"Not about the house, well I will be sorry about that…. I'm sorry about all this shit with the vampyres, I messed up. And… And I know I'm difficult to work with, so what I'm trying to say is…"

Scathach struggled for the word, which was even harder to say than sorry.

"…thank you, maybe if we'd met at a different time we could have been, you know, friends."

Billy smiled, and squeezed her hand. "I'd like that" he answered. His thumb rubbing circled on Scáthach's pale hand. He swallowed loudly, and Scatty looked up at his face and watched his mouth, instantly fascinated by his full lips, his two prominent front teeth and the sharp angle of his jaw.

She felt something that she hadn't felt in a long time, her heart beating faster. He was beautiful, not in the classical way, but in the weather-beaten, down to earth kind of way. Billy let go of her hand and his rough hands reached up to cup her face, fingers brushing across her prominent cheek bones.

Almost at once, there was a loud obnoxious buzzing. Billy cursed under his breath, and dropped his hands from Scáthach's blushing cheeks. Billy retrieved his phone from the floor of the car and flipped it open.

"Hello, what? Yeah, Black Hawk, yeah" Billy answered. Scáthach didn't hear the rest of the conversation, but let herself out of the car, and walk up towards the house, limping slightly from the ever present pain in her side.

By the time Billy entered the house, Scáthach had already collected all the combustion gel and anything flammable into a large pile in the front room. There were five bottles of sticky combustion gel, three whole tankards of diesel, and a few bottles of turpentine and white sprites, and well as whiskey, vodka, and some brandy. Billy dumped another two litres of diesel onto the table from the car.

"Think we've got enough?" Scatty asked, her eyebrow rose sceptically. Billy grabbed one of the whiskey bottles and took a long drink, before nodding his head.

"Got loads, now we just have to spread it." Billy responded, offering Scáthach the bottle of whiskey.

She refused the bottle, looking instead out the window. The sky had turn rusty-pink, coating the land in blood-red hues. Scáthach turned her head sharply, and held her nose in the air for a split-second. She could smell them, getting closer. But she knew they would stay away until the sun set. She grabbed the nearest bottle of fluid.

"Quickly, they're coming". Scáthach doused the furniture, curtains, rugs, sheets and walls with the fluids, while Billy covered the porch railings and furniture with diesel. The smell was unbelievably strong but the vampyres wouldn't notice hopefully. Nothing covered the smell of diesel like blood with vamps.

Billy threw the empty containers into the middle of the floor, and nodded to Scáthach.

"You almost ready?" he asked. Scáthach nodded, and produced a silver knife pocketknife. It flicked open to reveal a rather sinister dagger. Swiftly and noiselessly Scáthach closer her hand on the blade, and drew it across her palm. Blood dripped from her fist onto the worn wooden floor. She knelt and began drawing a circle with the pool of blood on the floor. Several intricate symbols were smeared inside the circle, a fish, an eye, the sun, a flower, and several squiggles. Scatty stood to admire her handy-work before taking out the dagger again, and this time carving long intersecting lines that assembled a star outside the circle.

"Haven't seen one of those before" Billy commented.

"Well you wouldn't, it's a devil's trap, a very old Celtic devil's trap". Scáthach turned to her companion.

"Give me your hand" she said and Billy gave it willingly, but blushed as she touched it, remembering their almost intimate moment earlier.

"What will it do?" he asked, referring to the devil's trap. Scáthach brandished the dagger, and slit his palm too, letting the blood drip into the very centre of the trap.

"It will prevent escape, once they enter, they won't be able to leave."

"And us" Billy said with a wince, "where will we be?" Billy's deep red aura flared up, and the room was filled with the scent of cayenne pepper, his hand scabbed and knitted back together in seconds.

"We'll be outside waiting for them."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

This may be the last chapter, at least plot-wise.

Don't forget to review, loads of people favourite'd this story, and put alerts on it, but I've only got five reviews!

Peace and love

"He's coming" Scáthach whispered. She unsheathed her twin swords from their holsters and stuck them into the green grass beneath her.

Billy looked up from his gun, a Winchester rifle full of silver bullets. He had his two colts, Colt single action .44 and a Colt double-action .41 caliber strapped around his hips, and an ammunition belt looped around his waist.

"How far?" he asked, moving from his lookout point over to where the red-head was standing. Her hair was tousled in the midnight wind, and Billy reached out and gently tucked a stay strand of hair behind her ear. Scáthach was comforted by Billy's bold gesture, but pushed away any thoughts of the teenage outlaw. She turned away from him, and answered.

"Not far, half a mile."

* * *

><p>It began with a rustling of the trees; the first vamp stumbled into the ambush site, too intoxicated off the smell of vampire, and immortal blood to notice the glistening combustion fluids on the porch.<p>

Billy stayed perfectly still from behind the house. Not his target. His target was the head vamp, Oleander.

Twenty more vamps came crawling out of the trees before he saw Oleander. Tall, and painfully thin, there was no colour anywhere on his except for two spots of blood on his chin.

Scáthach was nowhere to be seen, take him out now or wait? Billy had the fastest draw in the west but this was a vampire, and not just any vampires. _The Dispatcher of the Lost. _He recalled the passage about him in the vamp lexicon…

_Elijah Oleander, also known as The Dispatcher of the Lost, Wraith of beggars and lepers, a lonely one who leads the lost, not into the light but into damnation._

Billy shouldered his rifle, and set the vamp in his sights. He was moving slowly but surely, an easy target.

Oleander moved slowly towards the cottage, a faint smile playing on his white lips. The others swarmed together and descended on the porch, excited and frenzied by the infusion of vampire and immortal blood. The front door was ripped open by a heavy-set vamp, and the stampede began. The vamps screeched and howled with joy, climbing and shoving each other aside in order to gain access to the house.

All at once there was a blood-curdling scream, as fire raced along the combustion fuel path, up to the porch. The vamps that were staggering up the steps were the first to catch fire. Panic spread almost as fast as the fire did, and Billy allowed himself a small victory smile. The vampires outside were almost engulfed by the fire, and several sought refuge in the cottage. There was a strong smell of burning in the air now, and Billy could see the flames inside the cottage.

There was a tug at his hand, and he turned around. Scáthach was standing behind him, her sword covered in the stale blood of the vampires.

"Quickly" she said, dragging Billy away. "Might explode any minute now". They skirted around the path, and watched as the little house went up in flames. The first explosion destroyed the windows, sending shards of glass into the mob of vampires. Many howled in pain. But it was the second explosion, of the collection of fuels that wiped out the majority of the creatures. There was an almighty _whoosh _of escaping gases. The flames from the house soared, and the vampires let out several dying cries, followed by an eerie silence of flames crackling. The dispatcher was nowhere to be seen.

"The trees" Billy whispered, and pointed to the grouping of vegetation that were already on fire. The flames from the roof had begun licking at the trees nearby, something that Scáthach hadn't counted on. Several other dying vampires had set fire to the bushes surrounding the lake. The intense inferno was descending on them rapidly.

Scathach swore under her breath, and glanced around quickly. She grabbed Billy's hand before he could protest.

"The lake." Billy shouted over the roaring fires that threatened to consume them both. He grabbed hold of both his guns, and tugged the red-head down towards the water.

She was stiff and unyielding, her hand slipped from his grasp. Billy ploughed on, straight into the lake. It was only when he was knee-high in water did he turn around to face Scathach. She was stood on the shore, small yet resolute.

"What are you waiting for?" Billy shouted, the irritation rising in his voice. Already there were half-dying vampires heading towards the lake, towards her. The fire was truly surrounding them now, devouring ever tree and scrub in sight.

There was no reason for her hesitation, unless she was waiting for Oleander.

Billy's jeans were soaked and despite the immense heat of the fire, his teeth began to chatter, and goose bumps rose on his arms.

Scáthach turned to hack at a struggling vampire, and Billy raced back up the shore. He grabbed her elbow and began hauling her towards the water.

"No, stop…" she struggled, and lashed out. She caught him squarely in the face, before spinning him around and holding him in an arm lock. Billy kicked her legs out from under her, and using his strength against her, pinned her to the ground. His breathing was laboured, and his nose dripped blood, but he was mostly annoyed.

She struggled again, but Billy held her arms down.

"Let's go, Oleander can wait." He reasoned.

"But he's still out there, my sister-" Scáthach spat out, still writhing against him.

"Please, before it's too late." Billy pleaded. After a long hesitation, Scáthach nodded her head slightly.

Before leaping off her, Billy inclined his head briefly and kissed her soundly on the lips. Scáthach struggled against him again, and began to murmur. Her hand flowed to his waist before settling on his thigh.

Billy lifted his head from hers, as Scáthach's hand grabbed hold of his colt. She pushed Billy to the ground and fired two clean shots into the fire. Through the darkness of the smoke, it was impossible to see if she'd hit anything.

Until they heard the thud of the body drop. The slender body fell on the scorched earth, no less than 20 metres away. Two bullet wounds seen clearly. One to the head, and one to the chest.

Scáthach spun around and placed the colt in Billy's holster.

"He was there… the whole time?" He asked incredulously. Billy shook his head in disbelief. Scáthach smiled sweetly up at him.

"Least we know the silver bullets work." She finished, and grabbed his hand, hauling him back into the water.

* * *

><p>The whole estate literally went up in smoke that night. They waded into the lake to avoid the fires. And Scáthach laughed when Billy tripped and fell in completely, soaking his t-shirt and hair. Billy tried splashing her, but she stealthily avoided any water hitting her. In the end Billy grabbed her, and did what any kid would do, when their friend is dry and they are wet. He hugged her, soaking her as much as possible and even shaking his head like a dog, making her hair damp. She shrieked and laughed.<p>

Billy struggled up the other side of the lake, and hauled Scáthach up. Together they watched the fires rise and fall until nothing but charcoal and ash remained.


End file.
